[Kyarra]

As Metà and Vanquish arrived the Bridge they can't beleive that they really made it this far.

"Hey Vanquish, look! We've made it! Finally we arrived the Bridge - so far away from home. But you know what? I think your journey has just begun."

Metá sat down on a stub of a tree to make a little rest.

"I think we should have a little breake before we coniniue our journey!"

Vanquish lays down beside Metá and took a rest - just like Metá told him.

[Kyarra]

Suddenly Vanquish smells something.....but it was just a rabbit.
"Come on good boy! We should move now. I think we still have a long way." Metá said. And so they continiued their journey. All the way Vanquish was very vigilant - he just wanted to safe Metá from any troubles. But so far he didn't get scent of somethin bad around.

[Kyarra]

It's been two weeks now since Metá left her home to travel to Lambastia. It was the day after her 18th birthday when she decided to go out and find her own luck. She didn't want to bother her parents more than she already had. So she took a few things – like her bow and a quiver full of arrows, some food for vanquish and herself and a warm cloak for cold days.

Her parent's house lies in a small village at the edge of a wood. Since she was a child her father taught her how to hunt. She has excellent skills with her bow but she also knows how to use axes. The day she decided to leave her home her father gave her a map of the forest so she could easily travel towards it and of course Vanquish would have an eye on her. That's been two weeks ago and Metá  is trying to make her way to the Roraldy Forest where – so she hopes – she could meet interesting new people and perhaps earn some money. Perhaps she could work as a Hunter and sell the meat to the people. But that was just an idea.
_________

Vanquish suddenly stopped – he smelled something! Food! He looked at Metá and grumbled low-voiced. Metá understood almost instantaneously. She took her bow and pulled one of the arrows out of the quiver. Vanquish began to sneak towards the faint smell. There it was – a little deer was standing at a little stream drinking the cold water. Metá and Vanquish were hiding behind a bush a bit away  - waiting for the moment to shoot. And then the time had come. Metá gave Vanquish a silent sign and he suddenly jumped out of the bush. The deer was rigid with fear and THAT was Metás sign. She immediately stand up and targeted the deer *whirr* and her arrow was drilling into the deer's heart.

"Good boy!" Metá praised Vanquish "Now we have an excellent meal. I'll gather some wood for a nice and warm fire." While Metá was gathering the food Vanquish watched over the slain deer.  After a while Metá returned with the wood and started to Make a fire to cook the deer.

[Freezair]

This was the Above. She did not feel safe here.

Laksmi's tail twitched like a restless rabbit. And indeed, she felt like one. She was born in the caves, she was raised in the caves--this was not where she belonged by any stretch of the imagination. Some of the others in the Old Guard--they had been able to go between the Above and Home without a care. But this? This was not right for her. She would have Chief Mycolide's wings for this, she would.

At least this was a Bridge. Unmistakably her kingdom's territory. She sniffed at the ground, paused, and let her eyes relax.

Thwip!

Laksmi jumped and snarled. She heard the telltale swish of an arrow beside her. Aimed at her? Aimed at another? A warning?

She heard the dying thud as a creature fell. Her eyes honed in on a deer, fallen in the relative distance, an arrow protruding from its breast. A hunter? She moved closer.

A Shielupe. There were a girl and the Shielupe standing over the deer.

She sunk her claws into the wood of a nearby tree and began to climb, trying to survey what was going on. Her clacking was--more conspicuous then it needed to be. Far more conspicuous. That tree could be heard cracking fields away.

[1]

[Kyarra]

While Metá prepared the deer Vanquish kept watching. Not far away he heard something...something was crawling. He was alterted and he tried to trace where this sound comes from. He puts his nose in the air trying to smell something. Defenately....he also smelled something.

Metá was still engaged preparing the deer to coock it in the campfire so he decided to patrol - but always with an eye on Metá. Suddenly he stopped by a tree. There were scratches in the bark of the tree - as if something had climbed up to the it. He looked up and began to growl.

Metá startled up - nervously looking around for Vanquish. "He boy! What are you growling at?" She walked over to the Sheilupe. He was still growling towards the treetop and so Metá did likewise.

"What the heck is THAT??"

{4}

[Freezair]

Stupid! What did I think, trying to sneak around a Shielupe?

Laksmi poked her head out of the tree, just the tiniest warning tip of her snout. In order to seem intimidating, she breathed a small puff of flame. Not enough to reach the Shielupe's face, but enough to startle him, perhaps.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice gruff. "Be you friend or foe? Whom do you serve, and do you have weapons?"

She kept the majority of her body concealed in the tree. She assumed that, as an Evren, most would automatically assume her to be a creature of war. This was true, of course--she was a soldier--but she did not want to accidentally intimidate any future allies. On the other hand, if they were enemies, it was better to keep them guessing.

[2]

[Kyarra]

Metá had to shirk a little bit from the fire - strange creature she thaught. Suddenly it began to speek.

"Who are you? Be you friend or foe? Whom do you serve, and do you have weapons?"

Metá hesitated a moment before she answered "Erm...I'm just a traveler and this is my loyal companion." she pointed at Vanquish. "Who are you? And why do you observe us?" she asked.

She never had seen something like this before but anyhow it looks beautiful.
__________
Vanquish has stopped growling at the thing that was sitting in the tree but he was still suspicious. He began to sneak around the tree but alway with his eyes on the creature in the tree. Perheps he could jump towards it but he discarded this idea. So he remained staring at that strange thing. Sometime he wished that he could talk like humans do. Of course he was smart but he was not able to communicate with Metá.

[5]

[Freezair]

Laksmi's eye's glittered behind the foliage. She eyed the two and their stances. They seemed more worried than hostile. Perhaps she had been mistaken.

She showed her head, but kept most of her body concealed. She let them see her eyes, and (hopefully) how they bore no malice. She put one chitinous paw forward, showing that it was without a weapon. But she was still suspicious; she kept the other one back, so as not to give anything away.

"I am sorry for startling you," she said. "I didn't mean to overreact. What continent do you come from, travelers? And where are you traveling to?"

She had completely ignored the question of why she was watching them. She thought it was obvious. A soldier always watches. And in times of war, everyone needed to be observant. Even on the bridge, a neutral zone... well, was anything neutral anymore?

[3]

[Kyarra]

Metá watched carefully while the creature showed its head. It looked beautyful but also dangerous.
‘We need to be careful‘ she thought to herself.

„The continent we are coming from is called Elomyir and my name is Metá . We are traveling to the Roraldi Forest.“  ‘Don’t tell too much – could be dangerous.‘
„What about you?“  Metá worried that this creature could be hostile so she decided to be careful. Then again she thought that this thing in the tree could also be afraid and so she told Vanquish to be good. „Vanquish! Come over here and stop growling.“ Vanquish did like Metá told him.

“Do you want to come down? My neck hurts at a slow pace.”

[Freezair]

"Elomyir?"

She slunk down out of the tree, bending the branch down until it was low enough to hop off. She stood quadrupedal for the moment, looking upward at the Shielupe and the girl. Then she brought herself up to her full, bipedal, man-sized height.

"I've never heard of that land," she said. "What name does its Kingdom go by? Are you allied with the Furies? I've never been told of such..."

Almost as an afterthought, she said, "My name is Laksmi."

[4]

[Kyarra]

„Laksmi. Nice to meet you. So you never heard of Elomyir?” Metà fished a map out of her bag.
“Here…let me show you.”



She pointed at the map “Approximately there lies Elomyir. Well...I think it's outside of this map but not too far away from this point. It`s a neutral country and doesn’t belong to any Kingdom…” she explained to Laksmi. “I just…….I……I just came here to go my own way…to make my own business.“ She looked over to the campfire – the deer was almost done. “Erm, do you want something to eat? We enough food for three….provided that you like meat.”
Metá walked through the fire and proofed if the meat was well done – then she began to cut some portions out of it.

Vanquish took his portion and drag it a little bit away from Metá and Laksmi. He preferred to eat alone. He still was suspicious of the stranger but he trusts Metá’s intuition. She had a good knowledge of human nature and he guessed that would count for other species with human speech too. While he was eating he never took his eyes away from Metá and Laksmi. He needed to be watchful.

[6]

[Freezair]

A neutral kingdom?

But... wasn't that impossible?

Oh, certainly, so the original feud had been simply between the two of them--with the Sounds blaming the Furies for all their troubles, and the Furies retaliating in kind after being attacked. But all the pocket lands in the tunnels had come to either their side or the others. It was true--or so she'd heard--that the Above was largely neutral. She found it hard to believe--such a massive fight was sure to strike up the news somewhere--but she was unsure.

She sat down. "If you allow me to help in preparing the meal, I will. As a practice, I generally don't accept food from strangers--it could be poisoned--but I saw you hunt and kill this deer, so if you allow me to take the necessary precautions, I will join you."

[5]

[Kyarra]

“It would be a pleasure for me. Please help yourself.” Metá watched Laksmi while she prepared her meal. “I think Vanquish and I will stay here tonight. I’m not feeling like walking around in the dark. Tomorrow we will continue our journey to the Roraldi Forest.” she explained to Laksmi.

“What about you. Why are you here? Are you going anywhere?” asked Metá and took a morsel of the deer.

[Marinianora]

"Mari! Mari!" The HydroKuhna warned as Marinianora arrived on the plat form (Glyndwyr is located in my signature)
   Slightly agitated, after hours of ignring the Kuhna's concerns that were moot she said "What?"
"LOOK!" The Kuhna smiled and Marinianora had a blank face...unexpected. She looked around and smiled "Wooooowww......EPIC!!!!" She grinned
 The Hyrdokuhna smiled at her and said "See! I TOLD you Lambastia was SOOOO more promising than Barakka!"

Two weeks Later~*

Her Hyrdo Kuhna was doing neat tricks in the lake they were currently located at. Not far from the other group...though currently Mari was obliviouse to them.

"Don't over do it Glyndwyr!" Marinianora laughed...then Her Hydrokuhna named Glyndwyr hushed her and both Marinianora and Glyndwyr listened to a conversation between Meta, Vanquish and Laksmi

"watcha think they are talking about" Mari wondered but Glyndwyr hushed her. Mari scowled and continued listening.

[Kyarra]

Vanquish perked up his ears – he heard something over there behind these bushes. Somebody was whispering. Metá noticed that Vanquish heard something "Psssst…" she turned to Laksmi "…Vanquish heard something." She tried to locate where her Sheilupe had heard something but couldn't see anything. "Can you see something?" she asked Laksmi while she was still looking around.

Vanquish growled silently and began to search for the intruders.